Philip Goguen
Horse racing has been the most popular sport for betting for many years. Even though it is surpassed by soccer and NBA, it is still in the top four most favorite sports for betting globally.
Still, why is horse betting so popular?
Well, for starters it is a thrilling sport that brings a lot of excitement for the fans. It also lasts for a couple of minutes, which means that bettors can find out if they win or lose without too much waiting. Lastly, horse racing offers bigger odds compared to other sports, which is why we are here in the first place.
However, horse racing is very unpredictable and if you want to turn your money into profit, you must go through the exercise of finding out more about horse betting strategies.
In today’s article, we will go through some of the things that will help you improve your chances of winning.
Cover the Basics
To be successful at horse betting, you must know all the basics. Visit this site and void jumping into the process without researching more about horse racing and all the things you need to consider.
Since horse racing is unpredictable, the best way to improve your chances of winning is to know how to analyze previous results. But before you can do that, you need to learn all the rules of the sport, as well as betting options.
We won’t be covering the basics in this guide, so make sure you already understand them before jumping to the other section of the article.
Jockeys and Trainers
Many people make the same mistake of seeing the horse as the most important factor in the race. Yes, the winning horse is the first one that crosses the finish line, but the jockey is here to squeeze every performance out of the horse. So, if the jockey is familiar with the horse and he has a lot of experience, it should be a positive sign for betting.
Additionally, if the stable or trainer has several horses in the race, and the jockey is racing one of them, you can be sure that the jockey has hand-picked the horse just because of its performance.
Another important thing to notice is the number of races in one day. Usually, jockeys travel from place to place covering their own costs and racing multiple times in one day. This affects their performance, so make sure to stay away from jockeys who have already finished few races in one day.
Form
Analyzing data is the best way to determine a horse’s form. If you want to make a profit out of your horse race betting, you should see their form as the top criteria for your betting strategy. Form refers to previous races that the horse participated in, including barrier trials. Barrier trials are often used as a warm-up exercise, but they provide very useful information, especially for betting on smaller races.
If you want to dig deeper you should check the horse’s background. This information can be very important for making a wise betting decision.
You should ask yourself questions like:
- Does the horse come from comes from a good stable?
- Does it have good relatives?
- What is the purchase fee on the horse? (more expensive = greater performance)
Your goal should aim for horses that have a good pace, followed up by great form in previous races. Usually, you should check the horse’s form in the past year, and the results from the previous six months matter the most.
If you see a consistent pattern of good previous results, which means the horse is gaining momentum and they’ve reached their prime.
Track Formation and Weather Conditions
Weather conditions can throw away all the effort you’ve made trying to analyze previous results. Horse racing is one of the sports where the weather has a strong impact on the outcome of the race, much similar to Formula 1.
There are different types of horses that prefer different surfaces. For example, some horses have better performance on a sticky and wet surface, while others prefer dry and hard tracks.
Judging from previous results, heavier horses prefer dry and hard surfaces just because running on softer ground consumes more energy.
It is recommended to check the weather conditions in the morning and try to make a strategy by analyzing previous results in similar weather conditions.
This strategy also comes with a boomerang effect that can affect your profits. For example, if you make your bet a couple of days in advance, you’ll increase your profits just because the bets vary depending on how much money people put on the race consented.
However, it is very hard to bet a couple of days before the race just because it is difficult to know the weather conditions. Even though many apps can tell you the weather conditions for a week or month in advance, it is still a risk that it is not worth taking if you want to make a profitable long-term strategy.
Different Types of Betting Markets
There are a couple of different types of betting markets that are most popular among horse bettors. Obviously, the most popular is the outright victory market, where people place money on the horse that will win the race. This is a strategy that will secure long-term profits.
Another popular betting market is the each-way betting, allowing you to cover more than one place with the horse you’ve put money on (usually top four) by sacrificing your odds (usually by a quarter).
This is an effective strategy when picking horses with higher odds, such as 16/1 or above.
Many other bets can bring a bit of excitement on the track by combing multi-bets in one system, such as Lucky 15s, Yankees, or trebles. This strategy should be used after you’ve become an expert in horse racing.
The process is very easy nowadays, especially with websites like TwinSpires where they have a wide selection of bets that are explained very well even for beginners. They also cover specific states betting laws and legislation, as for example you can witness on their Michigan page: https://www.twinspires.com/states/michigan
In the end, it all comes down to how you read the data gathered from previous races. It is all about making the right decision, and that will come as you gain more experience in the process.
